now on bbc news, the latest business news from across the globe. globe. business today. easing price price pressures uk inflation slows slows for the first time in seven seven months. it's a boost for the the chancellor as she prepares to to reveal her budget next week. a a relationship reset the boss of of hyundai says the white house has has apologised over an immigration immigration raid at a factory in in september, where more than 300 300 korean workers were detained. detained. hello. i'm ben boulos, boulos, a very warm welcome to business. business. today we start here in in the uk and the cost of living living as the rate of price rises rises is slowing. it's welcome news news for consumers and for the government. government. perhaps allowing the the chancellor rachel reeves, a little little bit of breathing space as

as she prepares for her crucial budget budget next week, and perhaps also also the bank of england. it'll decide decide next month whether to cut cut the cost of borrowing again. again. so let me just run you through through the key numbers. the rate rate of inflation eased to 3.6% in in october. that's down from 3.8% 3.8% where it had been stuck for for the previous three months. the the drop is actually a little less less than had been expected, but but many investors seem to think think it's still enough to persuade persuade the central bank that it it can cut the cost of borrowing borrowing next month. in fact, they're they're putting that probability probability at 80%. our deputy economics economics editor, dharshini david, david, has the details. they've been been crafting pork pies here in the the black country since the 1930s. 1930s. but there's been a few unwelcome unwelcome ingredients this year from from higher commodity prices to government government policies which have added added £200,000 to costs hitting expansion expansion plans and putting pressure

pressure on prices. we've obviously obviously seen a lot of rising costs. costs. i think if you look at the the raw material base, they've increased increased significantly. so food food inflation's at a peak. i think think the biggest challenges we've we've faced over the last 12 months months or more have been the rise rise in the national living wage, wage, national insurance contributions contributions and so on. so that's that's had a significant impact on on our ability to invest and grow. grow. the same price pressures have have affected areas like services, services, meaning inflation has been been stubborn above that in many many other countries this year. however, however, slower energy prices means means that it is now slowing where where it goes next and what it means means for interest rates will in in part be influenced by the budget. budget. i recognise that inflation, inflation, the cost of living, is is still a big burden on families families right across the country country and that's why in the budget budget next week i'll be taking targeted targeted action to bring down inflation inflation to address the cost of of living. affecting many key staples.

staples. higher prices have been been painful to swallow even if incomes incomes are rising faster. with inflation inflation now likely to have peaked, peaked, the bank of england may be be tempted to cut interest rates, rates, but it and shoppers need to to know first how the budget could could impact future inflation. it's it's quite likely that the increase increase in tax that we're going going to see will be borne more by by households, which is rather more more deflationary than inflationary inflationary because they're likely likely to spend less as a result result and therefore bar any additional additional shocks, we could see inflation inflation going back to around 2% 2% by the summer. and there may be be hopefully staying there for some some time. back in dudley, the anxious anxious about the budget and want want to see the chancellor go further. further. i think a reduction in taxation, taxation, some support with things things like utility costs and things things would go a long, long way. way. we need to be profitable, we

we need to be sustainable. so we we need as much support as we possibly possibly can to try and invest in in the business to allow us to grow. grow. for higher prices. don't just just hurt pockets but also profits, profits, jobs. and so the government's government's top mission growth inflation inflation may now have peaked, but but they'll have to be a concerted concerted effort to get it further further down. if we're going to create create a recipe for lasting success. success. dharshini david there. well, well, joining us now is jackie bowie, bowie, who is the managing partner partner at chatham financial. jackie, jackie, good to have you with us. us. firstly, we've seen the numbers. numbers. we've seen the expectations expectations and so on and so on. on. but for our viewers watching watching at home, does this mean mean in the uk cost of living pressures pressures are now going to be easing? easing? well, if you look behind behind the headline numbers just just into the detail, i guess one one of the most concerning things, things, particularly for households, households, is that food price inflation, inflation, food and drink price inflation, inflation, which is still relatively relatively high, you know, up from

from about 4.5% to 4.9% in the numbers. numbers. and actually, if we look look at that over a longer period period of time, food and drink inflation inflation in the uk is prices are are probably up about 30 to 35% since since 2021. and the expectation is is that that food price will continue continue to rise through december. december. so the headline inflation inflation rate is coming down, driven driven by those utility costs. but but the food price inflation is what what really hits people in the pocket. pocket. and my goodness that is not not going to be what people want want to hear in the weeks leading leading up to christmas when people people are obviously spending a lot lot more on food and drink and hosting hosting and entertaining. the other other big question that will be in in people's minds is what will the the bank of england do on borrowing borrowing costs as a result of this? this? obviously that has a big impact impact on people's mortgages. on on the flip side, also on people's people's savings as well, given what what you've said there. what do you you think we're going to see? well, well, there's certainly a clear pathway pathway for the bank of england to to cut 25 basis points when they they meet again on the 18th of december.

december. and if you remember back back to the last bank of england england meeting, it was a pretty pretty close vote. only five votes votes to four to hold rates at 4%. 4%. so it feels like we're much more more tilted towards a 25 basis point point rate cut. the only thing to to bear in mind is there are some some pretty major events between between now and the 18th of december. december. the budget of course being being one. but there's a couple of of key data releases that have still still to come out in the uk. gdp gdp will get another inflation number, number, so it could still change, change, but based on today's number number that came out, there's certainly certainly seems more likely that that that rate cut will come. i mean mean the uk is still i mean its inflation inflation rate although it has come come down is still significantly significantly higher than that of of the eurozone and the united states. states. what do you put that down down to? yeah. well i mean eurozone eurozone inflation is really back back at target at just over 2%. whereas whereas the uk is almost still at at double its target. and really really that's the most concerning concerning thing because the increase

increase in inflation that we had had a few years ago was really driven driven by the increase in energy energy costs that every country across across europe felt in the uk included included the fact that the eurozone eurozone inflation has managed to to get under control and get to target, target, whereas the uk has remained remained high. really tells you that that there's a lot of domestic pressures pressures and your previous interview interview with the business owner owner and i guess i think summed summed it up, you know, the increase increase in the national living wage, wage, the increase in employers ni ni contributions, they are going going straight past through into into prices. and that's why uk inflation inflation is higher than it is in in the eurozone. ok jackie, thank thank you for putting that all into into context for us. jackie bowie bowie there. managing partner of of chatham financial. two other news news now on the boss of the south south korean carmaker hyundai says says the white house phoned him personally personally to apologise for a massive massive immigration raid at a factory factory in the us state of georgia georgia back in september. speaking speaking at a major business conference conference in singapore. jose munoz munoz said that while the raid was

was a, in his words, bad surprise, surprise, most of the workers had had since returned and it hadn't hadn't dampened his company's multibillion multibillion dollar commitment to to manufacturing in the united states. states. as nick marsh reports. well, well, this is the first time that that we've heard publicly, at least least from hyundai, saying that the the white house personally phoned phoned jose munoz to say sorry about about this raid. he was talking earlier, earlier, actually, and he said that that the governor of georgia even even called him to say, i don't know know what happened there. we're really really sorry about the raid, but but those images of hundreds of south south koreans shackled on the factory factory floor, detained for a week week that provoked a lot of anger anger in seoul. it also confused confused a lot of south korean government government officials who have committed committed to investing billions into into american manufacturing. and and then this is what happened. it it turns out that these were skilled skilled workers sent by hyundai to to set up this new factory in georgia. georgia. they've now since returned returned to work. we know donald donald trump wasn't very happy about

about this raid, but it is an interesting interesting confluence, if you want, want, of the two impulses of the the trump administration cracking cracking down on illegal immigration immigration on the one hand, but but then encouraging foreign firms firms to invest as much as possible possible in american manufacturing. manufacturing. like i say, it seems seems to have settled down by now. now. but the fact that the white white house is personally phoning phoning ceos and they haven't confirmed confirmed it yet, but a personal personal phone call to ceos shows shows a degree of embarrassment we we might not have considered before. before. and also genuine concern concern at losing these crucial billions billions of dollars of investment investment in american manufacturing. nick marsh there. there. now to the united states, states, where the former us treasury treasury secretary larry summers summers is stepping down from the the board of openai. this comes a a week after the release of emails emails between him and the convicted convicted sex offender, the late late jeffrey epstein. michelle fleury fleury joins us from new york. michelle, michelle, just bring us up to speed speed with this situation around

around larry summers. yeah. so larry larry summers, since it's emerged emerged that he had closer ties with with jeffrey epstein than people, people, perhaps first realised, has has stepped back from a number of of positions. the latest, of course, course, being on the board of openai. openai. and in it he basically apologised apologised and sort of said that, that, you know, he would kind of of try and let this he said he took took full responsibility for his his misguided decision to continue continue communicating with mr epstein. epstein. now this is obviously a a difficult time as people try to to figure out what exactly his relationship relationship was. the former treasury treasury secretary. it does appear, appear, kept kind of closer contact contact with epstein, mr epstein epstein than people thought. amongst amongst those, it appeared that he he took relationship advice from from mr epstein for a relationship relationship he was with, with a a woman he was mentoring at the time. time. and at one point, mr epstein epstein called himself larry summers summers wingman. all of this obviously

obviously a huge challenge for mr mr summers and he is still teaching teaching at harvard university, where where the university has said they they have opened an investigation. investigation. and remember, that that institution also has long had had ties with mr epstein receiving receiving funding from them, something something they have disclosed in in the past and taken steps to address address that issue. but of course, course, this is the latest embarrassment embarrassment and it comes as congress congress has been taking a vote to to release even more epstein documents. documents. ok, michelle, thanks very very much. michelle fleury there, there, our business correspondent correspondent in new york. today today is international men's day. day. in case you're wondering what what that is, an event aimed at highlighting highlighting what it means to be be a man in the 21st century and and the relationships that men have have within society. what role does does advertising play in defining defining how men see themselves, themselves, and how far do adverts adverts aimed at men and boys appeal appeal to them? it's something we've we've been discussing with nick dutnall, dutnall, the managing partner at at branding consultants bbd. perfect perfect storm. we work really closely closely with brands in developing

developing positive narratives that that reflect modern masculinity and and really to show a much more diverse diverse or diverse understanding understanding of men. and i think think we are brands are recognising recognising that they need to change. change. if you look at you've mentioned mentioned adolescence, the netflix netflix series, but if you look even even at the john lewis christmas christmas ad, what we're seeing a a depiction of the relationship between between a father and a son. and that that relationship is strained and, and, you know, potentially breaking breaking down and it's great to see see a high street brand, not just just a specialist male brand actually actually recognising that the culture culture in which we're currently currently sat in for men is difficult. difficult. it's complex and men are are looking for brands to actually actually portray that a much more more honest, much more vulnerable vulnerable and authentic vision of of men. nick dutnall there. and just just to say on the horizon, we've we've got nvidia's latest results results due out after the bell at at the close of trading in new york. york. for details on that, have a

a look at the bbc news website and and the bbc news app. but that is is business today for now.

hello, this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the met office office has issued yellow warnings warnings for snow and ice as a cold cold snap continues to impact people people across the uk. a more severe severe amber warning is expected expected tomorrow and the uk hsa hsa has issued cold health alerts alerts for vulnerable people in parts parts of england. our reporter alison alison freeman has the latest. it it may look pretty, but as winter winter settles in so does the disruption. disruption. since yesterday, scotland's scotland's been getting a dose of of the white stuff and today dozens dozens of schools across the highlands, highlands, moray and aberdeenshire aberdeenshire have been closed because because of the snow and ice in shetland. shetland. around a quarter of their their schools are closed to